HENNIKER, N.H. – New England College men's lacrosse handed visiting Castleton State College their first North Atlantic Conference (NAC) loss of the season topping the visiting Spartans 16-12 Tuesday afternoon.

With the win the Pilgrims remain undefeated in NAC play improving to 3-0 and improve their overall record to 4-7. The loss drops the Spartans to 5-7 overall and 4-1 in NAC play.

Castleton would get on the board first as Phil Patterson (Essex, Vt.) would put in a pass from Zach Davidson (South Burlington, Vt.) four minutes into play. NEC would respond netting five straight goals, including two by James Putney (Mountain Lakes, N.H.) and two by Matt Goyette (Lowell, Mass.). Castleton would grab a goal with 38 seconds remaining in the first cutting the lead to 5-2 after one quarter.

The two teams would battle evenly through much of the second quarter of play as the Spartans would edge out the Pilgrims in the goal department and head into halftime trailing just 8-5.
The two teams would exchange goals early in the third quarter before NEC would string together four straight goals building a 13-6 lead with 3:30 remaining. The Castleton offense would not falter as the Spartans would score the next five goals, including two man-up goals, cutting the NEC lead to 13-11 early in the fourth.

The two goal deficit is as close as the Spartans would get as NEC would net three man-up goals in the final quarter, including two by Steve Parsons (Townsend, Md.), to solidify the 16-12 victory.

Leading the way for the Pilgrims was Sam Freihofner (Scarsdale, N.Y.) who finished the day with four goals and three assists. NEC's Steve Parsons netted four goals and had an assist, while James Putney and Brian Gillis (North Vancouver, B.C.) each scored two goals and dished out three assists.

Leading the way for Castleton was Zach Davidson who scored two goals and five assists. Castleton's Alex Green (Braintree, Vt.) finished with three goals and an assist, while Nohea King (St. Albans, Vt.) netted three goals.

Picking up the win in net for NEC was Nick Aquaviva (Syracuse, N.Y.) who finished with 10 saves. In goal for Castleton was Eric Horsfield (Tolland, Conn.) who recorded seven saves on the afternoon.